NEED TO KNOW
- A security guard was sentenced to five to 14 years this week for fatally shooting a 7-Eleven customer in Las Vegas during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Kegia Mitchell previously entered an Alford plea to felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon
- Mitchell shot and killed Thomas Martin, 56, after he cut the line outside the convenience store and threatened to hurt her
A security guard who was convicted of fatally shooting a customer outside a 7-Eleven convenience store in Las Vegas five years ago has learned her fate.
Kegia Mitchell was sentenced to five to 14 years in prison on Thursday, July 10, according to online Clark County court records viewed by PEOPLE. Mitchell’s sentencing comes after she entered an Alford plea to felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon, the records show.
An Alford plea lets a defendant maintain innocence while accepting a conviction.
Mitchell was previously indicted on a murder charge in connection with the death of Thomas Martin, 56, in August 2020, KLAS and The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
That day, Mitchell was working as an armed security guard who managed the amount of customers who entered the store — a common policy implemented by multiple businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, KSNV reported, citing authorities.
Police said Thomas reportedly got upset when other customers entered the store before him and threatened to hurt Mitchell, according to KLAS. The two then started pushing each other.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Hamner said at the sentencing that Martin “cut a line” and “wasn’t stealing,” per the Review-Journal.
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“And what’s outrageous about it is that when he cuts the line, it is Miss Mitchell who puts her hand on his shirt first. And the rest of the struggle is Mr. Martin saying, ‘Get off of my clothing, let me go.’ And she won’t do it … Miss Mitchell ramps it up a whole other level. She pulls out a loaded gun, and she puts it to the side of his face,” Hamner said, per the outlet.
Mitchell’s defense attorney, Caitlin McAmis, said her client was under pressure to implement COVID-19 restrictions and that she “only pulls out the firearm by the time you see him swatting,” per the Review-Journal. “You see him lunging. And so the issue that we’re dealing with, unfortunately, seems to be a fight-or-flight response.”
Mitchell expressed remorse for the shooting.
“I didn’t mean to take this man’s life, I did not,” Mitchell said in court, per KLAS. “I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart.”
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